An Introduction and a Bit of a Retrospection: Apathy vs. Urgency; Are We Starting to "Care" More?

As this is my inaugural post I thought I might relay something here I actually wrote a year or so ago regarding a film that really provided the impetus behind my push for a new kind of patriotism.  The film in question is originally done in Hindi and is entitled, Rang De Basanti (Painted Yellow).  I wanted to address it today since it really hit home with a number of personal issues I have struggled with much of my life; including those of national identity, patriotism, and justice.  The mobilization of these concepts as signifiers within the American political narrative has always been troubling for me as it seems to create an atmosphere of slogan politicking and an endless campaign.  This has, in my view most aptly been demonstrated by the Dubya years as perception became more important than reality.  The film set in India, shows a group of young people who live fairly carefree lives until they are initiated into the world of ethnic difference and political expediency through the bitter loss of one of their own.  In the wake of their tragedy they stage a takeover of an Indian radio station to protest the actions of the government and are eventually killed by police officers who manage to storm the building.   Of course, there is more to the film than this brief sketch but what is most interesting is the strong assertion at the end regarding the power of the collective to produce change.

By and large, within the scope of American politics, it seems more and more difficult to define oneself as a ‘patriot’ as the word itself has been developed into a messianic will to power that has grown from disturbing to deadly.  It is the precisely the flaccidity in American political life and apparently the global community as well, which continues all of us on this highly destructive path.   As Americans, apathy, we have in spades, while compassion and concern are bumper-sticker catchphrases whose only value is a virtual one.  For me, patriotism is a belief in the potential of the United States, in what we alone are capable of becoming and achieving.  We have the capacity to transform the world in a way that is positive, progressive, and productive for most rather than a few.  Instead, our increasingly militant foreign policy has alienated us from allies and taken us, in my view, further away from ‘modernity’.  Modernity, in this context, is continually progressing towards economic, social, and political structures that seek to include and improve rather than alienate, the prospect of global citizenship and possibility for successful existence without the threat of extinction.  Instead, through our influences and the collusion of our partners on the world stage, the notions of “virtue” and “morality” are flattened and then "pinballed" into complex political machinations and power structures in order to only advance the interest of a few.  I think this film demonstrates an awakening that must happen to the American electorate in order to move forward.  

My reasoning for initiating my blog with this post is because though I wrote this quite awhile ago (in fact before Barack Obama decided to run for president), I feel its even more true now.  However, I also see for the first time since the release of this film the real potential for its message to be realized.  No matter what happens in this election, as Americans we have swerved from apathy to urgency which can only bode well for our future.